• Align government departments with ministerial portfolios.
• Establish a Cabinet Office to support government ministers to implement their policies.
• Establish a Public Services Ombudsman to provide the public with an ability to seek redress when government departments fail to adequately provide services to them.

The reforms which were made as part of the ‘One Gov’ agenda of the previous government CEO were meant to deliver more efficiencies, get departments working more collaboratively and improve accountability. But they appear to have achieved the opposite. The next government will sadly have to reverse much of this damage.

Ministerial portfolios should be aligned to government departments and there should be a line of accountability leading from each civil servant to a Minister. Reform Jersey Ministers will agree performance targets for each Director General, and these targets will be published and performance reviewed quarterly. Our Ministers will also speak for themselves and not rely on spokespeople to provide public comment.

To improve effective collaboration between ministerial portfolios, we will establish a Cabinet Office, which will bring together the Ministerial Support Unit with the Strategic Policy and Planning Unit, so the entire Council of Ministers can work more effectively together to deliver on their policies in the most efficient way. The creation of the Cabinet Office will not require any additional civil service posts.

To improve accountability in government, we pledge to support the establishment of a Public Services Ombudsman. The current government had committed to setting one up in the previous term of office but has failed to do so. We will ensure that adequate funding is provided in the Government Plan to ensure that this body can be up and running as soon as practical.

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